John 14
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Jesus, our friend, is hospitable. He prepares a place for us to stay, and He's also part of the welcoming committee! Because we are His friends, He wants us to stay close to Him. We'll be His neighbours, and can pop in on Him at anytime, and be assured of a welcome! He won't be too busy to see us, or too tired to entertain us. Jesus is our perfect host.
In fact, after His resurrection, He even prepares a barbecue breakfast for His friends, who obviously would be very hungry after a night and day of hard work. How considerate, anticipating our every need.
What a friend we have in Jesus!
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Being Jesus' friend
John 15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you.
I was reading Jack Deere's book, "Surprised by the Voice of God," and a chapter on being Jesus' friend intrigued me.
What is a true friend? A true friend is one who delights in you, alone; who enjoys your company; whom you can call anytime; whom, you can go to their house & it's okay to help yourself to what's in their fridge -- and they can do the same at your house. And who, when she rings up, just wants to catch up -- and not because she wants to ask you a favour.
True friendship, he says, is one where the motive to use the other is purged. We are friends, not because of what we can get from one another, or what we fear will happen if we don't give in to the other -- but we are friends because we just enjoy one another, as is.
Are we truly Jesus' friend? Do we go to him only if we have a need? Otherwise, we ignore him? Or, do we obey out of fear of what will happen if we don't?
Singaporeans, a person from the evangelism team said, tend to bring the "pai-sun" mentality to Christianity. We want something in return for our worship. We want Jesus and the good marks. We want Jesus and the career. We want Jesus and the dream spouse.
Guess what? He tests us by NOT giving us what we want. And in doing so, He exposes the intent of our hearts.
Are we content to abide in Him, even if we don't get anything from Him?
I was reading Jack Deere's book, "Surprised by the Voice of God," and a chapter on being Jesus' friend intrigued me.
What is a true friend? A true friend is one who delights in you, alone; who enjoys your company; whom you can call anytime; whom, you can go to their house & it's okay to help yourself to what's in their fridge -- and they can do the same at your house. And who, when she rings up, just wants to catch up -- and not because she wants to ask you a favour.
True friendship, he says, is one where the motive to use the other is purged. We are friends, not because of what we can get from one another, or what we fear will happen if we don't give in to the other -- but we are friends because we just enjoy one another, as is.
Are we truly Jesus' friend? Do we go to him only if we have a need? Otherwise, we ignore him? Or, do we obey out of fear of what will happen if we don't?
Singaporeans, a person from the evangelism team said, tend to bring the "pai-sun" mentality to Christianity. We want something in return for our worship. We want Jesus and the good marks. We want Jesus and the career. We want Jesus and the dream spouse.
Guess what? He tests us by NOT giving us what we want. And in doing so, He exposes the intent of our hearts.
Are we content to abide in Him, even if we don't get anything from Him?
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